Background:
“Castles in the Sand” is a concept album written by (Beyond The Labyrinth mastermind) Geert Fieuw. It took 11 years to write and, after 10 months of preproduction, 9 musicians to record it in 3 months.


"Conceive, Achieve, Believe”

If the creativity-killing Ritalin© drug had been invented 2 decades earlier, there’s a big chance that this album could never have existed: band leader Geert Fieuw –whose life motto is “Conceive, Believe, Achieve” - may be an accomplished musician and songwriter, he’s also an overly bright, impulsive, hyperactive, hypersensitive, overemotional person with near-to-zero people skills.

Geert had, started working on the “Castles in the Sand” album in 1996, first as a studio project – releasing a solo single “Shine” under the name of “Beyond The Labyrinth” in 1997, and shifting it into a live band beginning of 1999, only to see the band split up end of 2000.

When Jo De Boeck stepped into Geert’s studio, the day of the split, he immediately knew that there was something special about this fellow musician he was talking to. And Geert saw the karma and fate in these events happening simultaneously and made Jo do a vocal test and found that he really liked this guy’s voice and personality.

Jo, a former drum player-become-singer quickly felt at ease working together with Geert, both sharing a common musical taste and vision.

A more relaxed, diplomatic person himself, Jo would from that moment on take up the role as Geert’s counterpart in Beyond The Labyrinth, and so some the pieces of the puzzle started to snap into place.  As a studio project, they worked together trying to record as much as possible, never quite happy with the results and outcome, refining and rethinking where possible

In 2004, Geert and Jo decided to reform BTL as a real band and in 2005 BTL released their first album “Signs”. The reason for releasing “Signs” first was dual: not only did it feature absolute fan favorite “In Flanders’s Fields’, a song that didn’t fit into the “Castles in the Sand” concept, but also because Geert didn’t feel that “Castles in the Sand” was ready. “Signs” was an independent release by the band themselves, and Beyond The Labyrinth managed to grab the attention of fans by playing support acts (a.o. Pain Of Salvation, Riverside) and festivals, opening for the likes of Jon Oliva, Doro, Sonata Arctica and Epica.

By the end of 2006 the lack of growth took its toll and the band lost its momentum. Several musicians, including Jo, left the band, and 2007 first saw Geert struggling to maintain BTL in a by then completely different line-up, then abandoning the concept of a live band all together.

By August 2007, it was “back to scratch” … and then suddenly the rest of the puzzle started to materialize. Soon Jo was back on board, helping to create the working demo’s – with Geert on guitars, keyboards, piano, and drum and bass programming - for the refreshed “Castles in the Sand” concept, joined by (spring 2008) bass player Gerry Verstreken (that played in the previous 2 line-ups of BTL) and newbie drum player Bruno Goedhuys.
BTL veteran keyboard player Danny Focke (also on the “Signs” album and numerous gigs) was also called in as a solution for Geert’s inability to combine guitar and keyboard playing live as well as in rehearsal.

This renewed line-up was officially announced beginning of June 2008, having already started recording the new album. Where possible, material (especially a lot of Geert’s keyboard parts) and structures from the demos were maintained and fine-tuned and rough mixes were ready by the end of August.

By then, the assembly of fine musicians had turned into a tight band with a common vision, a lot of rock attitude and determination to deliver Beyond The Labyrinth’s music.

The band had already started shopping for a deal with the working demos in the beginning of April 2008, and with the new rough mixes in hand, they continued yet another round. A lot of record companies were interested, but the final outcome was, one time too often “This is really good music but we would spend too much time trying to market and promote it”: read: because of the changed climate where people try to download music for free in stead of buying CD’s, record companies only want to invest in sure-fire success formulas.

End of October 2008, the decision was taken to release “Castles in the Sand” in a limited edition on the band’s own “Incommunicado” label (without distribution), supported by a worldwide iTunes, Napster, Emusic and Rhapsody deal, with a first single “Time To Fly” to be released two weeks earlier.

Beyond The Labyrinth is committed to continue bringing good music in a world where major rock bands recycle their old riffs for new albums, where Dance “Music” DJ’s push one button and call it a “live gig” and where female artists get publicity by their nightly escapades.
Beyond The Labyrinth is counting on reviewers, fans and supporters not to hurt the band by offering the result of their labor by “sharing” it.